Monster's Strength
by ShadowCatRose
Summary: Guess who's back! After returning home and getting her life back on track, things seem to be back to "normal" for Rose. But, a noticeable increase in hostile Demon activity has a few people worried. A familiar name runs across the lips of vile beasts...revenge will be swift...what the hell is going on? [Third book in my "Monster" series. I don't own the Inuyasha characters.]


Chapter 1: Unstoppable…?

The park was calm and quiet at this hour. Stars tried their best to shine their light on the bright-lit cities, quite unsuccessfully, but the moon shone beautifully. On a perfect night like this, it wasn't that surprising for a pair of lovers to be having a romantic candle-lit picnic, even this late. Both were too busy whispering sweet nothings to each other to notice the giant pair of eyes watching them in the distance.

Ha-ha, they sure as hell noticed when a Bear Demon came barreling out of the woods, ready to devour **them **whole instead of their picnic. Those poor souls ran for the hills before you could say "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" It looked too much like a regular bear for them to really realize that it wasn't a natural being, but one with a sharp nose would be able to tell that it was a low level Demon.

Obviously, I have a sharp nose. I came busting out of the foliage for a surprise attack, knocking the shocked Demon right into a tree with my heightened strength.

"You must be REALLY hungry if you're flashing your ugly face in public. What, didn't find a bee hive to find a "small smackeroo" to sate your appetite? Why didn't you get Boo-Boo to come help you?" I could do this all day.

My references to Winnie the Pooh and Yogi Bear just pissed the big guy off. The larger-than-average bundle of brown fur came barreling at me, but I just stood there and laughed with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Hey, Selene. Next hit is yours."

"I'm surprised you didn't kill him with your teasing." Another humanoid came crashing into the clearing with her dragon claws at the ready, creating a gash in the big guy's side. The brunette in low pigtails with her dorky red plastic glasses and huge green eyes gave me an exasperated look. Usually, she looks adorable and harmless, especially in her usual priestess outfit after-hours, but when this dragon priestess is united with her partner, you should watch out! You got a scale-covered bitch built like an indestructible tank chasing down your ass with a pair of dragon wings. Fast and durable? Deadly combination. "You are having too much fun with this."

"Stupid people make me bitchy. Stupid Demons that attack humans in our town just make me laugh when we hand them their asses on a silver platter."

"Aw, just let her have her fun, princess." Here comes the smelly wolf. The Demon had stood up while we were talking and was towering over the much smaller Selene, who clearly was ignoring the weak beast, when Koga pops in with a sucker punch to the face. Seriously, how could that stupid bear not smell THAT coming? Koga reeks of wet wolf that hasn't bathed. In six weeks. The black-haired blue-eyed guy tanned like a Native American with a dumb ponytail to make him stand out even more was decked out in his usual denim clothes. Selene adored her "sexy badass" as she calls him when it's just me and her, but I only find his cocky nature mildly amusing. Still, he's been a good friend and a great boyfriend to my bestie, in his own wolfish way.

"Your one to talk, wolf! You treat every battle like a game!" And then there's Dog Boy, charging in with his sword at the ready. I could see the winds surrounding his fang-shaped blade, ready to fire off a Wind Scar attack and finish the job, but I think fluffy-butt got the message, because he turned tail and ran, whimpering like a wounded animal. "Awww, come on, get back here! I'm not done with you yet!"

"Let him go, Inuyasha." I sighed and flicked the forehead of the silver-haired, doggy-eared, adorable canine hanyou that somehow MIRACULOUSLY became mine in the span of almost a year. I lost count after a while. Those six or seven months in Tokyo were a blur. So were the remains of my summer vacation, if you could call being stuck in summer school a "vacation". "He was probably about to piss himself at the sight of Tetsusaiga and that face you make. Though, that fluffy mop of hair really makes you 30% less intimidating. Those puppy ears aren't really helping either…kind of just takes the rest of it away. Don't worry, you'll get to slay the next one, I promise. We'll even let you get the first hit." Koga and Selene just mocked him when I ruffled his hair like a child. At least his battle fury melted into embarrassment.

"Oi, quit it!"

"But I love your reaction. You get all flustered when you're embarrassed. How cute." A light punch on his leather-jacket covered shoulder only further reddened his face. I swear, the other two in our little "posse" were going to die of laughter over there. Inuyasha just stomped off in a huff. He wouldn't be mad forever. He has mood swings worse than a pregnant and hormonal teenager.

"All right, all right, enough of the teasing." Selene had regained her composure and clapped her hands to get everybody's attention. "Back to serious business. Haven't you guys noticed that Demons around here are becoming a bit bolder lately?"

"They were silent all summer because we scared the shit out of them after what happened in Tokyo." There goes that cocky grin of Koga's. "I guess they thought we were gonna get soft!"

"I'm just saying, maybe we should be a bit more careful." Miss Worry-Wort does have a point, but I don't think we really have much to worry about.

"Uh…Selene…you do remember that we have Inuyasha here, right?" I pointed to my dog-eared boyfriend, whose own confident smirk returned as I pointed him out. "Yeah, this guy. Right here. Ass kicker of Demons? Ring a bell?"

"Don't forget that silent brother he's got." Koga shrugged. Inuyasha looked about ready to rip his head off for killing his buzz, but Koga just waved him off. "I'm just saying! Have you seen that dude fight?"

"Yeah, when he nearly ripped that hunter's arm off." That was pretty gruesome, but he does live up to his name of being Killing Perfection. I doubted any of us really had any foe that we couldn't take down, especially if we were together. "Enough of this worrying nonsense. WHO WANTS ICE CREAM!?"

"OH, ME! ME!" I knew Selene would easily volunteer. Of course, if Selene was going, Koga was going to escort his little princess and get her whatever she wanted. Inuyasha would go just to keep Koga in line and keep his eyes on me. After Tokyo, he rarely ever let me out of his sight. Except to use the bathroom. That would be just creepy on so many levels. Unless you took it in a sexual way…

Okay, female hormones, let's not get into bathroom fantasies. It's time for an ice cream party! Let's hope our favorite place is still open, even past ten at night.

…..

…I really wish I'd known what was to come upon us that night. Maybe then I would have tried my hardest to enjoy the calm before the storm better. I would have laughed a little more, cried a little more, and just enjoyed life with my friends.

Once again, we were about to get ourselves into deep shit. You think I'm joking, or overreacting? No, I mean some serious, smelly, giant pile of bull shit…and all of it started over five hundred years ago.


End file.
